Electric railway



(No Model.)

J. F. McLAUGHLIN.

b ELECTRIC RAILWAY. No. 330,605. Patented Nov. 17, 1885.

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V//7///A Y////////A W Wdhvesa e5 fnvenior: gin/L26 Jaw Efliaughlim N7 51 1066 /Z&&ormey-sj UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES F.'MOLAUGHLIN, OE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC RAILNVAY SYSTEM,

(LIMITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 330,605, dated November 17, 1885,

Application filed December 26, 1884. Serial No. 151,266. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES F. MOLAUGHLIN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Electrical Railways, of

which the following is a specification.

The main object of my invention is to so construct the motor-car of an electrical railway that by the manipulation of a single lever the brakes may be applied at the same time that the motor is thrown out of circuit, and this object'I attain as hereinafter fully described.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is 1 a sectional view, partly in diagram, of suflicient of a motor-car to illustrate my invention. Figs. 2, 3, 4., and 5 are sectional views of different forms of rails for the conductors, and Fig. 6 is a view of a form of contact bar or lever which may be used for making contact with the main conductors.

A A are the ordinary track-rails, on which run the wheels d of the motor-car B, and on any suitable part of the frame of this car is 2 5 mounted the motor M, whose armature-shaft is suitably geared with one of the car-axles, b. I prefer to arrange the main conductors a a between the main-track rails A A; but they may be'arranged and mounted in any suitable o manner or position, and receive the current from a suitable generator, S.

I have shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 5 different arrangements of rails which may be employed to carry the conductors between the track- 5. rails.

In the construction shown in Fig. 2 the conductors a are carried by insulating rails or stringers b, which are secured to the trackrails A.

In the modification Fig. 3 a stringer or rail, A, is shown as provided with a groove on its side to receive the conductor a, with intermediate insulation, 1); or the stringer A may itself be of some insulating material.

In the modification shown in Fig. 4 the rail or stringer A is grooved on the top for the reception of the conductor a, while in the construction shown in Fig. 5 the rail or stringer A is grooved on its opposite sides for 50 the reception of the two conductors a and a.

On any suitable part of the car-frame I pivot a lever, E, which controls the motor and the brakes, as hereinafter described, and from this lever is suspended the bar G, for making lrying at its lower end two elbows, g g, insulated from the arm. These elbows carry contact brushes or rollers g, which are adapted under normal conditions to bear on and make electrical contact with the conductors a a. Where the contacts are in the form of rollers or wheels, they may, if desired, be grooved, as shown in Fig. 6, in which case the conductors a a will be made of a form to adapt themselves to the grooves in the wheels. The lever E is provided with a suitable operating-arm, e, under the control of the motor'man, and the same lever carries an electrical switch consisting of two contact-fingers,z' z',which are insulated from the levers and from each other, but which are electrically connected with the elbows g, carrying the contact brushes or 7:. wheels-one contact-finger with one elbow and the other with the other elbow. Under normal conditions, when the motor is in operation, the lever E will be moved to the position shown in Fig. 1, with the brushes or wheels of the c contact-bar G traveling on the main conductors a a and the switch-fingers i 'i resting on contact-plates h h, which are connected through conductors 1 2 with the two poles of the motor. By a movement of the lever E in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, the fingerst' i can be thrown out of contact with the plates h h, to cut the motor out of circuit; but owing to the pivoting of the contact-bar G to the lever E said contact-bar will keep its brushes or wheels in contact with the main conductors, a a, notwithstanding this movement of the lever E. To insure the said brushes or wheels remaining in contact with the said conductors I provide a spring, s, between the bar G and an arm, f, of the lever E. The spring 8 in this case I have shown as a spiralspring guided on a stem, 15, carried by the bar G.

D D are the brakes to be applied to the treads of the car-wheels, and carried by beams,

as usual, suspended from the under side of the car, and I so construct the lever E and its at tachments that by the operation of said lever in throwingthe motoroutofcircuitthebrakeswill be applied, and when the brakes are removed the motor will be thrown into action again. I provide for the application of the brakes either by electrical or mechanical means, or both. In the drawings, Fig. 1, I have shown both methods of applying the brakes. For this purpose the armf of the lever E is connected to one of the brake-beams, while the arm 6 of the lever is connected to the other brakebeam through the medium of a coiinectingrod, K. in the present instance this connecting-rod is utilized as the soft-iron core of a solenoid, L, which is carried by the frame of the car, and the terminals of the solenoid-coil are connected to contact-plates Z Z. These contact-plates Z are arranged in such positions adjacent to the co ntact-plates k that when the lever E is pulled over in the direction of its arrow the switch fingerst' will move from contact with the plates h h into contact with the plates Z Z, so that as the motor is thrown out of circuitthe solenoid L will be thrown into circuit. As a result, the core-rod K is so acted on by the solenoidcoil as to move it in a direction to apply the brakes, which, by the movement of the lever E, have been already partially applied mechanically, as will be readily understood. If desired, the lever E may be provided with a curved stop'finger, f, occupying such a rela tive position to the bar G that when the lever E is pulled over beyond a certain extent said stop-finger will come into contact with the bar and lift it, so as to take the brushes or wheels out of contact with the main conductors a a. It will thus be seen that by the movement of a single lever the brakes are applied at the same time that the motor is thrown out of circuit, such application of the brakes being either electrical by the movement of a switch or mechanical by suitable mechanical connections of the lever with the brakes.

I claim as my invention- 1. The motor-car of an electrical railway, provided with a motor and car-brakes, and a single lever having connection with both the motor and brakes, to throw one out of action when the other is thrown into action.

2. The combination of the motor-car of an electrical railway with a motor and car-brakes and a lever controlling the brakes, and also carrying a switch to throw the motor into and out of circuit.

8. The combination of the motor-car of an electrical railway and a motor with an electric car-brake and a lever carrying a switch for both motor and brake, to throw the brake into circuit as the motor is thrown out.

4. The combination of the motor-car of an electrical railway and a motor with car-brakes and a lever carrying a switch to throw the motor into and out of circuit and mechanically connected to the brakes, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a car and its wheels and brakes D, suspended from the body of the car, withsolenoid-coils having cores movable within the coils and connected to the said suspended brakes, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI affix my signature in presence of two witnessess.

JAMES F. MOLAUGHLIN.

Witnesses:

S. J. VAN STAVOREN, CHAS. F. VAN HORN. 

